FEATURED COURSE

Are you interested in Arab revolutions? In Islam and nationalism? In the history of Arab wars with Israel and the Palestinian struggle? The goal of this introductory course is to help you to read, think, and write critically about the region usually referred to as the modern Middle East. We...

FEATURED COURSE

History matters because it studies the past and critically looks at the legacy of the past in the present. How we study history is just as important. This course is a window to the historian’s workbench: a survey of the diverse methods and sources historians use to ponder and question the past...

FEATURED COURSE

The emergence, nature, and consequences of racial segregation (also known as Jim Crow) in the South and nation; how Jim Crow compares to the system of apartheid in South Africa; perspectives on black life and race relations in southern communities; and major challenges to Jim Crow by African...

FEATURED COURSE

Examines images and realities of North American Indian cultures and history from the pre-Columbian period, through the period of European-Indian contact in the 16th, 17th, & 18th centuries, to the first imperial expansion of the new U.S. nation in the 1810s. Constructions of cultural...

FEATURED COURSE

This course introduces students to the history of medicine through the study of medical practices and beliefs in China. Paying close attention to socio-historical context, we will explore how those beliefs formed, how the practices have changed over time, and in particular how the...

How To Do History

HISTORY 161S

Examines innovative approaches to researching and writing history. Addresses key methodological issues, including techniques historians use to interpret the past and the political stakes. Topics include critical approaches to race, gender and colonialism. How do historians construct their objects of study? What count as primary sources? How do we read them critically? How do historians formulate analytic questions and arguments? What narrative techniques do they use? What are the stages of a research project? Emphasis on primary research and writing in second half of course. Students conduct original research in archives of their choice; workshop; and write research papers. Instructor: Staff

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Undergraduate Courses

Gateway Seminars: introduce undergraduates to the ways historians do their work. The seminars build skills in researching and writing history, and introduce historiography. Although students often take gateways as a sophomore majors, the courses also provide a great way for prospective students to explore the major.

Capstone Seminars: allow students to draw on everything they have learned in the major and to write an original paper based on their own historical research. Capstones are generally taken in the junior or senior years.

Pre-1800: count towards the pre-modern course requirement for the major. Courses must have a substantial portion of the class deal with the period before the nineteenth century.

Graduate Courses

Readings Colloquia: provide breadth and depth in graduate student study during the first two years before individualized study towards dissertation proposals.

Research Seminars: broadly framed around general topics in history, these courses help graduate students refine individual research agendas.